Farm Bureau Press for July 7, 2017

In Farm Bureau Annual meeting notices It’s that time of year when county Farm Bureaus need to notify members about upcoming annual meetings. To assist with this, Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Production Hub is again offering printed materials to be mailed out through the Little Rock office using ArFB’s permit to save counties considerable mailing costs. This also eliminates the need for counties to pay an annual permit fee.

The Production Hub will continue to offer the postcards at a discounted rate as this is proven to be the most efficient and economically effective means of notifying members. The postcards are available for $19 per 1,000.

Counties also have the option to send out newsletters if preferred. These are available for $90 per 1,000. There is also an additional cost of $30.50 per 1,000 for tabbing the newsletters, which is required by the U.S. Postal Service. Because it costs much more to print and mail out the newsletters, most counties use postcards for mail notification

Emma Davis (right) from Sulphur Springs (Benton Co.) high-fived counselor Emily Parish of Mansfield (Scott Co.) after successfully completing the Giant’s Ladder activity at Arkansas Farm Bureau’s four-day Teen Challenge camp in June. The young women were among 58 highschool students from 29 Arkansas counties who participated in the event at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center near Ferndale. and only print a limited number of newsletters to hand out at the meetings.

Postcard and newsletter orders must be placed at least seven weeks before the annual meeting date. This ensures sufficient time to design, edit, approve and print orders, plus allows time for the notifications to be mailed three weeks before the meeting. The

On June 29, workers at Saul’s Fish Farm in DeValls Bluff seined rosyred minnows that will be loaded on a special truck for delivery to out-ofstate bait distributors.

Businesses like Saul’s, owned by James and Margie Saul, contribute to Arkansas’ No. 1 national ranking in the farming of bait and feeder fish.

The Sauls primarily raise golden shiners and fathead minnows.

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www.arfb.com

notifications can be mailed directly from Farm Bureau Center in Little Rock and billed to the county.

A copy of the meeting notice will be emailed to each county for approval. Prompt approvals help prevent delays in mailing.

Counties should be sure their membership list is updated and correct, and

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A Publication of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

July 7, 2017 • Vol. 20, No. 13

On June 27, Monroe Co. FB Women’s Committee members — (left to right) LeAnn Wilkison, Sandra Kemmer, Jana Carroll and Lynlee Wilkison — and Valerie Turner (right) with the county extension office, served Arkansasgrown tomatoes to customers and answered questions about food and farming at Brinkley’s Cottage Mall Café to help promote agriculture in the area.

The foundation’s new streamlined ordering system allows you to select the type of banner that best suits your needs – retractable, hanging or retractable tabletop.

Banners can be customized with a logo or text if you like.

Want to use more than one logo, need to order in bulk or just have some general questions? Contact John Speck at 847-622-4892 To place an order, visit afbffoundation.promacincstore.com.

New barn banners Want to make a big impact at your farm or fair? Do it with the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s Learn About Livestock and Crops banners.

New this year, the foundation introduced banners on horses, specialty crops and major commodities to complement banners featuring beef cattle, sheep, goats and poultry versions rolled out previously.

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STEVE HIGNIGHT photo

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Taste Arkansas Need a great new recipe to try for your next family get-together? Want to learn some new cooking and nutrition tips?

Searching for facts about healthier eating?

Want to learn more about the Arkansas farmers who produce our food?

All this and more is available on Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Taste Arkansas blog. Visit tastearkansas.com today, scroll to the bottom of the home page and type in your email address to receive up-to-date local food news, delicious seasonal recipes and more in your inbox.

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confirm all names are spelled correctly.

Content must be provided in electronic form (MS Word, digital photos, email, etc.).

To place your order or for more information, contact the Production Hub at 501-228-1259 or send an email to productionhub@arfb.com.

ArFB’s Dairy Division gathered for its summer meeting June 1 at the Decatur dairy farm of Benton Co. FB board member Bill Haak. Division chair Susan Anglin (standing, right) of Bentonville led the meeting, which focused on topics of interest to dairy farmers such as farm labor and a national dairy pricing proposal supported by American Farm Bureau Federation.

Eleven junior and senior highschool students from Clark, Pike, Montgomery, Hot Spring and Dallas counties ham it up a bit after days of intensive studies and handson experiences at the Medical Applications of Science for Health (M*A*S*H) camp held June 12-23 at Baptist Health Medical Center in Arkadelphia. M*A*S*H camp assistant Caitlyn Trostel is holding the sign.

Jeff Pitchford, ArFB’s state affairs director, was among the speakers June 21 at the Brinkley Convention Center, where roughly 40 people gathered to discuss tax policy issues affecting agriculture. The Arkansas General Assembly has created a legislative task force to review the Arkansas Tax Code and provide recommendations for policy to improve the code.

In Arkansas Soybeans, cotton up; rice down After a tumultuous spring of heavy rains and flooding, Arkansas soybeans and cotton returned to acreage numbers not seen in the state in several years, while rice acreage — and its estimated harvest — dropped by nearly a third from last year, according to a crop acreage report published June 30 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that Arkansas producers planted an estimated 3.55 million acres of soybeans, an increase of more than 420,000 acres over 2016 numbers. Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said soybeans likely absorbed some acreage originally intended for rice or corn, which either suffered from prevented planting or was lost to flooding after planting.

Arkansas cotton acreage also saw a significant leap over 2016 numbers, as growers planted approximately 440,000 acres of upland cotton, an increase of more than 60,000 acres.

While Arkansas remains the country’s top rice producer, the state’s rice acreage dropped significantly from 2016, from approximately 1.55 million acres to approximately 1.17 million acres, according to the report. The report

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2017 Rice Expo New tools for soil fertility, new technologies for weed control and live cooking demonstrations are on the agenda for the 2017 Arkansas Rice Expo, Aug. 4, at the Grand Prairie Center in Stuttgart.

“The seventh annual Rice Expo is our chance to not only celebrate rice, but also the Arkansas farmers who grow this crop and keep our state’s ag-driven economy healthy,” said Mark Cochran, vice president of agriculture for the University of Arkansas System. “Arkansas remains the nation’s top rice grower, producing more than half the U.S. output for this commodity.”

Doors open at 8 a.m., and the event runs through lunch. There is no charge for admission or the catfish lunch being catered

by Yoder Ruritan.

This year’s Rice Expo will feature a variety of field tours and presentations on fruit varieties and fruit growing by Janet Carson, extension horticulture specialist and author, and White County Extension Agent Sherri Sanders.

Keith Cleek, extension area program associate, and Leigh Ann Bullington, Woodruff County extension staff chair, will be returning with their popular live cooking demonstrations. This year, they’ll have some ideas for folks who want to take rice beyond the savory and into the realm of the sweet tooth.

Fifty-five students from around the state attended the 4-H Veterinary Science Camp June 26-28 at the University of Arkansas Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center in Fayetteville. The camp provides hands-on educational opportunities designed to get youths interested and involved in veterinary science, and teach them the skills necessary to pursue a career in that field.

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estimated the state’s likely harvest at about 1.11 million acres.

On May 2 at the county office in Hope, members of Hempstead Co. FB made a donation of $1,000 to the newly formed Arkansas Farm Bureau Foundation.

Attending the presentation were (left to right) agency manager Reed Camp, Hempstead Co. FB president Mark Lloyd, treasurer Randy Hare, county and state board member Caleb Plyler and area coordinator Dustin Hill.

Rice College Herbicides, irrigation and replanting considerations are among the items on the agenda for the 2017 Arkansas Rice College scheduled for Aug. 3 at the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart.

The event, held the day before the Aug. 4 Arkansas Rice Expo, runs from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Registration is $75 per person, and must be done online at http://bit. ly/2szn660. Seating for the event will be capped at 120. The registration fee includes lunch and all materials, including a sweep net, hand lens and a goodie bag with additional items. Continuing education units are available.

“Crop consultants, industry personnel and producers will see current research on many of the production challenges Arkansas rice producers are experiencing today,” said Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

For more information, contact Hardke at jhardke@uaex.edu or 501-772-1714.

Elsewhere WOTUS on the way out The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on June 27 announced a proposal to rescind the Clean Water Rule and recodify the regulatory text that existed prior to 2015 defining Waters of the United States or WOTUS. “Farmers and ranchers across this country are cheering EPA’s proposal to

ditch its flawed Waters of the U.S. rule,” said American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall. “We know the importance of clean water, and farmers and ranchers work hard to protect our natural resources every day.

“But this rule was never really about clean water. It was a federal land grab designed to put a straightjacket on farming and private businesses across this nation.

That’s why our federal courts blocked it from going into effect for the past two years. The announcement shows EPA Administrator Pruitt recognizes the WOTUS rule for what it is — an illegal and dangerous mistake that needs to be corrected.”

Youth work guidelines A coalition of farm and ranch parents, and high-profile agricultural organizations including American Farm Bureau Federation, has released a set of Agricultural Youth Work Guidelines to assist parents and others in assigning appropriate tasks for youth who live or work on farms and ranches.

The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety made the announcement on opening day of the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health annual conference.

The first 20 in a set of 50 guidelines were released.

The new guidelines can be found on cultivatesafety.org/work in an interactive format, as well as in read-only and print versions.

Editor Keith Sutton

keith.sitton@arfb.com

In the Market As of July 5, 2017

Port congestion in China Ships carrying up to 700,000 MT of soybeans are waiting to discharge along China’s coast, traders report.

The country has been an aggressive buyer of soybeans in recent months, plus it has toughened import customs inspections, leading to major port congestion and pushing stockpiles to their highest levels in years. There is concern that the lengthy wait times may curb the recent rally in Chinese soymeal prices and threaten demand.

Bean shipments at record pace Brazil’s grains exporters’ association Anec says the country shipped a record 45.5 MMT of soybeans the first half of the year, and it expects shipments of 7 MMT in July. The country’s trade ministry data show bean exports totaled roughly 10.96 MMT in May and 9.197 MMT in June. For the entire calendar year, Anec expects Brazil’s soybean exports to total between 61 MMT and 62 MMT. EU/Japan trade agreement Leaders from the European Union and Japan will soon announce a broad agreement that could create a free-trade zone to rival the North American Free Trade Agreement. The deal is expected on July 6. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said today they had mostly resolved their main differences: dairy products and autos.

Japan will create a low-tariff quota for European cheese and abolish levies over 15 years, while the EU will remove auto tariffs over seven years.

Beef trade talks Officials from the United States and Brazil will meet in Washington July 13 for talks on how to resume

beef exports to the U.S. Brazil Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will meet in Washington by the end of July to further discuss lifting the suspension USDA slapped on Brazilian beef imports in June.

Fuel quotas reconsidered Concerns that refiners will import ethanol from Brazil and biodiesel from Argentina to fulfill Renewable Fuel Standard volume requirements helped lead U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to reconsider quotas for those fuels, according to several reports and sources. A coming announcement may include lowering the targets so refiners can rely mostly on U.S.-made biodiesel and corn ethanol.

U.S. exports to China U.S. rice and poultry may be the next commodities approved for import into China, with a breakthrough expected within weeks.

“We are very close to a rice protocol where rice can come back in,” USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a July 1 interview in Shanghai.

Poultry is also being discussed, and the U.S. will host a team from China this month to demonstrate quality and safety controls, Perdue said.

China has restarted imports of U.S. beef, lifting a ban that had been in place since 2003. China has banned poultry imports from the U.S. due to avian influenza and is the world’s biggest rice importer.

“While they’re not quite ready to certify that at this point, we think both rice and poultry are very close,” Perdue said. “I’m hoping it’s going to be weeks. Those are my expectations: weeks. Certainly not years, and hopefully not months.”

Farm/nutrition program estimates Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an updated 10-year baseline of federal revenue and spending that includes

projected costs of mandatory farm and nutrition programs. CBO estimates spending on agriculture will amount to $137 billion between fiscal 2018 and 2027, while the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/ food stamps) will cost $679 billion over the same decade. The shifts in the baseline put even more pressure on farm-state lawmakers to determine how to divvy up what appears to be a smaller pie.

U.S./U.K. trade talks ahead The United Kingdom and United States will begin “actual discussions” over a post-Brexit trade agreement on July 24, U.K. Trade Secretary Liam Fox told BBC TV’s Question Time. Britain cannot formally sign trade deals with other countries until it leaves the European Union in March 2019, but it can lay the groundwork for them so they can be ratified soon after.

Vaccination overhaul needed Cattle ranchers in Brazil are pushing for an overhaul of the country’s vaccination program against foot and mouth disease (FMD), which was one of the issues that led to the U.S. banning imports of fresh beef from the country. CNPC, a national council of cattle ranchers, asked the government to cut doses in half, change the location where the vaccine is administered from the muscle to just under the skin and to remove a substance called saponin from the vaccine. The group also believes the mandatory, twice-annual vaccination should be eliminated in 12 states that have not reported a case of FMD in 20 years.

CONTACT

Matt King 501-228-1297, matt.king@arfb.com